Overview
The Canon Powershot A75 is a 3 megapixel digital camera with a 3x optical zoom lens. It is ideally suited to anyone who is looking for an easy to use digital camera that is ready to start taking pictures as soon as you have loaded the batteries and memory card.
It can be used in fully automatic mode or if you prefer the Canon Powershot A75 also allows you to choose your own exposure settings. There are also thirteen pre programmed scene modes that help you to produce the best possible picture in different lighting and composition situations. For example there are pre programmed scenes covering shots taken on the beach, in the snow and for general portraits and landscapes.
Image Quality
The Canon Powershot A75 particularly impressed me with its reproduction of colour. The colours were very true to the original scene and were bright and vivid. The sharpness of the image was also good, although not quite top of the class.
One key test of a digital camera is how it copes with indoor shots when the lighting isn't perfect. Again the Canon Powershot A75 handled this test well and indoor shots in poor light came out well. The camera has an indoor/party mode to help you get good shots in this situation. The flash has a maximum range of around 4 meters so as long as you don't expect perfectly lit shots in large, dark rooms you should find the shots satisfactory.
Features
If you are looking for a good list of features then the Canon Powershot A75 doesn't disappoint. The obligatory automatic mode lets you start taking pictures as soon as you have taken the camera out of the box and put in the batteries and memory card if you wish. This is backed up by a semi automatic mode where you can take advantage of a number of preprogrammed scenes. These include portrait, landscape, night portrait, indoor/party, sports and slow. The idea of these scene modes is to help the camera take the best possible shot in challenging lighting conditions.
You also are given control over white balance and exposure compensation settings. In addition you can take responsibility for focusing. This feature isn't normally available for a digital camera with this level of specification. Having said that I am not totally convinced that this is something that will ever be widely used.
If you would like to be a little more adventurous there is a manual mode. This allows you to set the size of the aperture and shutter speeds yourself.
For anyone wanting to take short movie clips there is a Movie Mode. The maximum length of a movie is three minutes.
There is also macro mode for when you want to take close ups and a self timer for when you want to be in the picture.
Ease of Use
As long as you are prepared to spend a little time acquainting yourself with the Canon Powershot A75 then you should be able to get to grips with most of its functions. The controls on the back and top of the camera are pretty much standard for any digital camera in this range. The fact that it packs an extra two or three items on to the main control button makes it a little easier to find the setting you are looking for. I also liked the way that by pressing the function button it was quick and easy to change key settings.
There was also a consistency to the menus and functions that is sometimes lacking elsewhere. Whatever mode the camera is in the menu displays and options remain constant. This certainly helps a new owner to get up to speed quickly.
Cost
At the time of writing you can buy the Canon Powershot A75 for a shade under £200. In my opinion it is very fairly priced.
Style
The Canon Powershot A75 is a little too large to slip easily into a pocket or handbag. It will go into a pocket, but it has to be a large one. Therefore if a really small size is very important to you there are better models available than this one. It is still a neat compact digital camera though. One of the plus points of its size is that there is room for a decent sized grip on the front of the camera. I found that it just helps you to steady the camera that bit more than some its rivals. This shouldn't be overlooked when considering image quality. The slightly large size also allows room to make the buttons on the camera a little bigger and easier to get at.
One other thing that I like is the main control dial being on the top of the camera. It makes it more accessible.
There are a couple of points that bug me about the design though. In the majority of digital cameras the zoom lens is controlled by a button on the back of the camera. You can control the zoom with your thumb before pressing the shutter button with your index finger. On the Canon Powershot A75 the zoom is controlled by a ring around the outside of the shutter button. Therefore both zoom and shutter button are controlled by the index finger. The other point is that you use a slider rather than a button to change between shooting and playback modes. Fairly minor points I know.
Some digital cameras are designed with the emphasis very much on style. Whilst I wouldn't say that about the Canon Powershot A75 it is a bright, silver, camera that looks fine by me. If you are particularly style conscious then there are better models out there. If you are looking for a highly portable camera that takes good pictures then that is a fairly accurate description of this camera.
Batteries / Memory Cards
The Canon Powershot A75 is powered by 4 AA batteries. Battery life is always difficult to gauge accurately as people tend to use their cameras in different ways, but the batteries seemed to last a little longer than on some other models. As with any digital cameras I would recommend investing in a set of rechargeable batteries and a charger.
Images are recorded onto Compact Flash cards. Again at the point of purchase I would look for a deal that allows you to buy an additional, larger memory card than the 32 megabyte one supplied with the camera.
Conclusion
The Canon Powershot A75 is a very good camera. It is easy to use and produces high quality images. It offers some manual controls that are above the standard specification for a digital camera in this range. Therefore if you would like to experiment with setting your own shutter speeds and aperture settings then the Canon Powershot A75 gives you a relatively inexpensive way of doing so.
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Canon Powershot A75 Review Canon Powershot A75 Specification Canon Powershot A75 Sample Images
